This application makes reference to, incorporates the same herein, and claims all benefits accruing under 35 U.S.C. xc2xa7119 from an application for Method For Registering And Searching Dialing Information In A Communication Apparatus earlier filed in the Korean Industrial Property Office on 27 Apr. 1995 and there assigned Ser. No. 10173/1995.
The present invention relates to a communication apparatus, and more particularly, to a method for registering and searching dialing information in a communication apparatus.
Telephones and facsimiles are general examples of communication apparatuses that are often provided with features, such as a one-touch dialing feature and/or an abbreviated dialing feature. An example of this type of communication apparatus is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,349,629 issued to Kumano. To accommodate these features, a communication apparatus is provided with a memory in which various dialing information is stored and searched.
In conventional communication apparatuses having these features, dialing information is first typically stored in memory, and can then be automatically dialed in response to depression of a one-touch dialing key or an abbreviated dialing key. In order to search the memory for desired dialing information, a search key is typically pressed and the stored dialing information is sequentially searched and displayed according to the depression of an up key or a down key. In this disclosure, dialing information refers to alphanumeric information, such as a telephone number and a name, which is stored in memory in correspondence with the one-touch dialing key or the abbreviated dialing key.
With many conventional communication apparatuses, however, there has been a problem in that a great deal of dialing information is typically registered into memory, and the registered dialing information must be individually checked while searching. Accordingly, key operation can become burdensome and inconvenient.
There has been another problem in conventional communication apparatuses in that identical dialing information is often repeatedly registered into memory in cases where the user can not fully remember all of the dialing information that has been previously stored in memory. Accordingly, the memory capacity of the communication apparatus is not optimally utilized.
Furthermore, there has been yet another problem in conventional communication apparatuses in that outdated dialing information often remains in memory without the knowledge of the user. Accordingly, new dialing information may not be able to be registered into memory since the memory capacity of the communication apparatus is limited.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved method for registering and searching dialing information in a communication apparatus.
It is another object to provide a method for registering dialing information in a communication apparatus in which dialing information is sorted such that the more recently registered dialing information is arranged ahead of the less recently registered dialing information.
It is still another object to provide a method for registering dialing information in a communication apparatus in which dialing information that is already registered in memory is not redundantly registered.
It is yet another object to provide a method for registering dialing information in a communication apparatus in which dialing information which has not been redialed within a predetermined number of dialing operations is automatically deleted from memory.
It is still yet another object to provide a method for searching dialing information in a communication apparatus by inputting only an initial portion of the desired dialing information.
These other objects can be achieved in accordance with the principles of the present invention with a method for registering dialing information and a method for searching the registered dialing information. The method for registering the dialing information contemplates the steps of: inputting dialing information for storage in a dial buffer; registering in memory the dialing information stored in the dial buffer; sorting the dialing information registered in memory in an order such that the more recently registered dialing information is arranged before the less recently registered dialing information; and automatically deleting from memory dialing information which has not been redialed within a predetermined number of dialing operations.
The method for searching the registered dialing information contemplates the steps of: sorting the dialing information registered in memory in an order such that the more recently registered dialing information is arranged before the less recently registered dialing information when a search key is input through a key input unit; inputting through the key input unit a keyword representing a portion or all of a telephone number corresponding to desired dialing information and then storing the input keyword in the dial buffer; searching for the dialing information corresponding to the keyword stored in the dial buffer from among the dialing information registered in memory; displaying the dialing information corresponding to the keyword; and selecting and dialing the telephone number corresponding to the displayed dialing information.